Taguig Mayor Lino Cayetano said downgrading the status of the National Capital Region (NCR) to Alert Level 1 will normalize life and spur the economy.
Mayors including Cayetano under the Metro Manila Council signed Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Resolution 22-06 recommending to the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) to place NCR under Alert Level 1 starting March 1.
In his weekly report, Cayetano said when NCR is placed under Alert Level 1, it will “restore life to our economy, jobs and livelihood will return but not immediately. We need to bring back confidence to our countrymen not only in health and livelihood. We must be brave to go out as long as we wear a mask, to travel as long as we are vaccinated, open our schools, for our children to go back to college and for other businesses to start, hire new employees.”
“I believe that when we go down to Alert Level 1, this will be the way for us to go back to our [pre-COVID-19) life. As others have said, not only a new normal but a new future or a better future,” he said.
From Feb. 18 to 24, Taguig recorded 160 new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases, or 23 cases per day, down by 706 cases or 82 percent from 866 new cases recorded from Feb. 11 to 17, or 124 cases per day.
As of Feb. 24, Taguig has 220 active COVDI-19 cases, or the third highest among the 17 local government units (LGUs) in Metro Manila.
In the MMDA resolution, mayors cited the low COVID-19 numbers in Metro Manila including a positivity rate of 4.64 percent as of Feb. 21.
The resolution stated that 16 of the 17 NCR LGUs are now classified as low-risk based on the two-week growth rate and average daily attack rate (ADAR).
“The above data manifest a continuing improvement in the COVID-19 situation in the NCR and, further considering the high vaccination rate in the Region's target population, the Metro Manila Council has taken a uniform and united position to urge the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases to place the NCR under COVID-19 Alert Level 1 Status starting on 01 March 2022,” according to the resolution.
It added, “The Local Chief Executives of the NCR are ready and fully capable of implementing the IATF-prescribed health and safety protocols under COVID-19 Alert Level 1 Status.”